Wall paper off, how to prepare to paint?

Mar 01, 2004 3 Replies

I have removed the (strip-able) moisture resistant wall paper from the bathroom. There is the bonding paper/ sizing still on the dry wall. How do I clean this from the wall to prepare it for painting? I have a small steamer, I would think this would work, but I don't want to remove/soften or loosen the "paper" surface of the drywall.


Wet it with a sponge, wait, remove. Scrape as necessary. After, wash walls thoroughly to remove all paste.

-- dadiOH _____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.0... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

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Get a bottle of wallpaper remover the enzymes in it activate- loosen the glue. The backing may be thick , using a garden sprayer is sometimes a good idea. Carefully scrape it off with a wide blade. Hopefully your walls were primed in oil or you will have drywall damage needing some repairs

I encountered the adhesive from hell removing my mother-in-laws wallpaper. (Could also have been a badly prepared wall.) I tried patching the bad spots when I finally had removed all the adhesive, but there were so many that I realized putting paint over them was going to leave a really ugly texture problem. In the end I skim coated it with walboard compound and a 10" knife, and lightly sanded.

Gary Dyrkacz snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net Radio Control Aircraft/Paintball Physics/Paintball for 40+

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